Siddaramaiah announces retirement from electoral politics, to contest from Varuna now

Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Friday iterated that the upcoming Karnataka elections, scheduled for May 10, will be his last electoral battle. Hinting at his retirement from electoral politics in the next Assembly elections, the Congress leader also revealed the reason behind why he is contesting the upcoming Karnataka polls from the Varuna Assembly constituency.

“I am contesting from Varuna assembly constituency as my native village comes under this constituency. This is going to be my last election. I will retire from electoral politics,” Karnataka Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. 

#WATCH | I am contesting from Varuna assembly constituency as my native village comes under this constituency. This is going to be my last election. I will retire from electoral politics: Karnataka Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Siddaramaiah

#KarnatakaElections2023 pic.twitter.com/Aj9ljRXbd8

— ANI (@ANI)

Siddaramaiah will contest the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections from Varuna as well as Kolar constituencies. Notably, the Varuna constituency is currently represented by his son Dr Yathindra.

Earlier it was speculated that the saffron party was mulling fielding former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP stalwart Yediyurappa’s son, BY Vijayendra, from the constituency against Karnataka Congress strongman Siddaramaiah. However, rejecting all speculations on March 31, Yediyurappa said that Vijayendra will not be contesting from the Varuna Assembly constituency and instead will contest the upcoming polls from the Shikaripura seat. 

Siddaramaiah and his retirement promises

This is not the first that the Congress strongman has announced his retirement from electoral politics. After being elected as the Karnataka Chief minister in 2013, Siddaramaiah announced he would retire from electoral politics and won’t contest more elections. But during the 2018 Assembly polls, he contested the polls from two seats – Badami and Chamundeshwari.

In fact, during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly polls, Siddaramaiah made a similar announcement again and reiterated that he won’t contest from any seat in the 2023 state election. However, again ditching his retirement process once again, the senior Congress leader and ex-Karnataka Chief Minister is all set to contest to test his political mark from Varuna and Kolar seats. 

Karnataka to go to polls on May 10

As per the Election Commission (EC), Karnataka will go to polls in a single phase on May 10, 2023, and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. Announcing the dates for elections, Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that the poll watchdog had laid special emphasis on new-age voters, women, transgender people, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable tribal groups.